Long-term cardiac rhythm assessment of children is often performed via 24 hour ambulatory electrocardiography monitoring (e.g., Holter monitoring). Current techniques to attach a Holter monitor device to an ambulatory child are identical to those used for adult patients: shoulder straps, belts, and jackets. See FIG. 1. The drawbacks with using these techniques on children are multiple. First, these methods present a child with numerous opportunities to manipulate or "fiddle" with the monitoring device. If the monitor is disturbed during a recording session, data acquisition is often interrupted or stopped entirely. In order to prevent this disruption, 24 hour supervision of a child is often necessary. Secondly, these techniques do not allow a small child to maneuver unencumbered, thereby defeating the goal of obtaining data representing the child's heart rhythm during a "normal" day's activities.
Twenty-four hour monitoring of young cardiology patients (e.g., children 0 to 5 years of age) is a routine activity. At the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Tex. for instance, approximately 2000 children were monitored in 1993 using 24 hour monitoring.
Due to the problems associated with convincing a small child to carry, and not disturb, a monitoring device for long periods of time, physicians may need to admit the child to a hospital, keeping them for 24 hours so that cardiac rhythm assessment may be performed. Disadvantages of this approach include: (1) the inability to record the child's heart rhythm during "normal" or routine conditions, (2) the expense of a hospital stay, and (3) the inefficient use of hospital resources in having an otherwise healthy child occupy a hospital bed and utilizing medical personnel.